What is the aim of an authentication attack?

The aim of an authentication attack is to impersonate a user and gain unauthorized access to the network. In such attacks, the perpetrator seeks to exploit weaknesses in the authentication mechanism—this could involve stealing login credentials, using phishing techniques, or employing malware to capture user information. By successfully impersonating a legitimate user, the attacker can engage in various malicious activities within the network, such as data theft, unauthorized transactions, or further infiltration into secure areas of the network.

The other options, while they might describe different types of malicious activities, do not align with the specific objective of authentication attacks. Creating new user accounts typically pertains to system administration or account provisioning rather than an attack. Erasing user identities is more about data destruction than about gaining access. Stopping all user access could refer to a denial-of-service attack but does not focus on impersonation or gaining access to perform further actions, which are the central themes in an authentication attack context.